I have steadily been making headway on purging unneeded accounts across the web over the past few months.

However, to my surprise, my birthday illustrated just how far I have to go. Why? Because that’s the day that many websites and forums like to send you a ‘happy birthday’ alert e-mail.

In just one day, I found over a half-dozen new accounts that I didn’t even know existed, including:

TribalWar

nV News

Gamingforce Interactive

MapMyRUN

CarForum.net

Ultimate RC Forums

Free Web Hosting Talk

more…

All of these accounts are dead — some never lived in the first place. However, they all link back to me in some way. Again, none of this is anything I’d be personally concerned about but why have it out there unless its serving a purpose?

Nowhere to Hide

It’s no secret that we are but a single Google search from prying eyes. It’s alarming how easy it is to search for people on the internet. Likewise, it’s pretty alarming how much information exists about us (see: me) on the internet, as well.

In fact, it’s not too difficult to create an entire profile of someone (see: me) with just a handful of searches. Common user names, posts on forums, and the like all help flesh out a person’s digital identity and, if that person isn’t careful, it can make for a pretty gross picture.

A little history

So it has been a solid two years since my website, derekheiser.com, has been anything but a money-grab for a deviant domain-squatter. When I realized it was expired and free for me to register again (at no cost, thanks to dreamhost; take that no-good, ransoming polish guy!), I had to sit and think about whether it was even worth it for me to create a new web presence.